Association Between Dietary Intake of Polychlorinated Biphenyls and the Incidence of Hypertension in a Spanish Cohort

Abstract

Polychlorinated biphenyls are persistent organic pollutants that are consumed because of their bioaccumulation through the food chain. Evidence from different sources suggests a positive association between polychlorinated biphenyls exposure and the incidence of hypertension. However, no previous prospective study has investigated this potential relationship in adults. We prospectively assessed the association between dietary intake of polychlorinated biphenyls and the incidence of hypertension in a large cohort. The Seguimiento Universidad de Navarra project is a Spanish cohort of university graduates, most of them health professionals. We included 14521 participants, initially free of hypertension, who were followed-up for a median of 8.3 years. Dietary intake of polychlorinated biphenyls was assessed at baseline through a previously validated 136-item semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. The published concentration levels of polychlorinated biphenyls measured in samples of food consumed in Spain were used to estimate dietary intake. Multivariable Cox regression models were fitted to estimate hazard ratios and 95% confidence interval for incident hypertension. During follow-up, 1497 incident cases of medically diagnosed hypertension were identified. After adjusting for total energy intake and for potential confounders, participants in the fifth quintile of total polychlorinated biphenyls intake were at higher risk of developing hypertension (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.43 [95% confidence interval, 1.09–1.88; P for trend 0.017]) compared with those in the first quintile. In this Mediterranean cohort, dietary intake of polychlorinated biphenyls, estimated using a food frequency questionnaire, was associated with a higher risk of developing hypertension during follow-up. Nevertheless, further longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our results.

A compromised liver alters polychlorinated biphenyl-mediated toxicity

“…Interestingly, mice with a compromised liver and exposed to Aroclor1260 displayed signs of endothelial cell dysfunction (increased plasma ICAM-1, P-Selectin and thrombomodulin). Furthermore, studies on PCB exposure and hypertension are scarce, with only a few epidemiologic studies showing associations between plasma PCBs and increased risk for hypertension (Donat-Vargas et al 2015; Park et al 2016). Recently, a study by our group has reported an increase in hepatic Fmo3 expression with “dioxin-like” PCBs, thereby implicating these pollutants as risk factors for CVD (Petriello et al 2016).…”

Polychlorinated biphenyl exposure alters the expression profile of microRNAs associated with vascular diseases

“…Because miRNAs have been proposed as biomarkers for diseased states (Wang et al, 2016), they can also potentially be used as biomarkers for PCB exposure and PCB-induced diseases. Environmental exposure to PCBs have been positively correlated to various diseases directed to either a particular or multiple organ systems such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, non-alcoholic steatosis, diabetes and insulin resistance, obesity, and hypertension, myocardial infarction and stroke (Bergkvist et al, 2015; Bergkvist et al, 2014; Cave et al, 2010; Donat-Vargas et al, 2015). Furthermore, a number of diagnostic markers have been proposed for PCB exposure such as elevated serum liver enzymes and elevated cholesterol and triglycerides which are risk factors for either liver diseases or cardiovascular diseases.…”

Hypertension in Relation to Dioxins and Polychlorinated Biphenyls from the Anniston Community Health Survey Follow-Up

“…A fourth large follow-up study also was conducted in Spain with 1,497 cases of hypertension among 14,521 participants; the median follow-up was 8.3 y (Donat-Vargas et al 2015). PCB concentrations were not measured.…”

“…Most studies analyzing the connection between PCBs and hypertension are cross-sectional (Everett et al 2008;Goncharov et al 2011;Henríquez-Hernández et al 2014;Yorita Christensen and White 2011;Peters et al 2014) as are those linking dioxin-like compounds and hypertension (Chang et al 2010;Ha et al 2009;Ilhan et al 2015;Lee et al 2007;Uemura et al 2009;Nakamoto et al 2013). Cohort studies have been used infrequently, with only a few conducted to assess POPs and hypertension incidence (Arrebola et al 2015;Donat-Vargas et al 2015Raffetti et al 2018).…”